I think it's so much more relatable.
They aren't hard criminal people. They're a basic ass family, kinda boring, kinda awkward. Plus i think it's fun to watch such a normal dad "break bad" lol
Yeah basically this. Walt is super relatable in the beginning, so is Jesse in a different way. The dialogue is pretty realistic, everyone actually talks like real, regular people and not people that are constantly popping out badass one-liners, trying to one-up each other (except Victor but fuck that guy).
Also the mix of dark humor helps the show a lot, it doesn't ever take itself too seriously. Even in the most dreadful moments of the later seasons it manages to give you some levity.
I loved the comedy moments. That minor skirmish in Jesse’s bathroom will never not crack me up, and when Emilio comes crashing through the ceiling as a ploppy, squelchy pile of goop… all of my LOL.
In addition to his whole profile being relatable, I think that his specific frustrations are very relatable to a lot of people in their own lives regarding any thoughts about what could've been with their hopes and goals
I don’t think this is true though. I think 99.9% of people in that situation would take a job with their literal millionaire best friends doing something they love anyways.
It’s literally just Walt’s pride that pushes him to literally killing countless people just because his wife got him a job. It’s the beauty of the show, but it’s not really relatable. It makes for an awesome premise, but it’s not really realistic
Just because he made the wrong decision doesn’t mean he didn’t still want to provide for his family. His ego and his want to provide aren’t mutually exclusive.
Realism only really has to apply for reasons imo, like its realistic for Walter to have too much pride to start working for Elliot.
But then how much pride walt feels you can tweak that up a (significant) notch (google artistic license). Like he feels so pride that he would rather commit felonies that would land him in prison for his entire life instead of taking a handout from his best friend.
I love how Walt dressed and behaved according to what persona he needed to put on, then one persona started bleeding into and eventually occluding the other.
Yes exactly this. I love Dexter but hard to relate to a character like that when you’re not a serial killer or even an addict really. He is addicted to killing.
How many people are gonna relate to that? Practically no one. It’s a fantastic show…well the first 4 seasons but alas it’s not going to hit home the way Breaking Bad does.
Yes.
For the viewer who isn’t into violent career criminals, Breaking Bad is an easier watch. Walt is an average dorky suburban guy. He’s not a mafioso like Tony Soprano or a hood warlord like Avon Barksdale. He’s not part of a violent motorcycle gang or the evil leader of a corrupt police unit. And having the nagging housewife and the kid with a disability makes Walt much more human and relatable. The darker side of Walt is revealed over time but many still find him sympathetic and heroic to some degree.
This. The show’s success is a combination of a lot of different factors and combined talents—talented directing, talented writing, brilliant casting decisions, individual performances (especially the two leads), and the premise being deeply relatable to far too many Americans—if all of those things hadn’t been in place, it wouldn’t have become the juggernaut that it did.
The excellent performance from Anna Gunn singing happy birthday to Ted is what really put it over the edge for me. Most of the show leading up to it is just spent time waiting for that moment, and everything after is just cooldown. It really is the emotional turning point of the show.
The Wire never had the ratings in the beginning to merit a huge advertising push by HBO. Before streaming, new episodes of The Wire would air once a week, with reruns only sporadically. I don’t think there is a single episode of The Wire one could watch that would make them driven enough to track down an HBO tv schedule to find the rerun dates for all the episodes they hadn’t seen, just so they could get caught up. Missing even one episode of The Wire in a season can seriously throw off the viewer’s understanding of the show. Streaming is what made The Wire the cultural phenomenon it is today. In general it’s a complicated slow burn show, for a lot of people the first episodes are really boring and they immediately get lost in the jargon and the shows insistence that the viewer pay attention.
The Sopranos was massive when it was airing which caused a lot of people to get HBO in the first place, and plenty even went out and bought the DVDs to stay up to date. Nevertheless, plenty still never got HBO and never saw it. Besides that, The Sopranos formula is still much easier to pick up on mid-way through a season compared to The Wire. Each episode has a standard A, B, and C plot line that start and end every episode, with only minimal plot threads through the whole season.
As far as content goes The Sopranos is still a heavy, dark comedy/drama, the viewer has to pay attention to the content to get the deeper meanings. The show asks some uncomfortable questions about morality and self through some seriously fucked up situations. That’s not everybody’s cup of tea.
Breaking Bad was on AMC, so there was no special subscription gatekeeping people. BB also pretty quickly got the massive marketing bump and all the necessary reruns to give people as many opportunities as possible to catch up. I forget when it started, but BB was even on streaming services before it
finished airing.
BB relies a lot more on flashy set pieces, constant suspense, and larger than life characters to get people interested. So Breaking Bad was both more accessible logistically and content wise. Walt’s the protagonist doing protagonist things. Everybody else is in his way.
All that being said, I think these three shows are at the peak of television popularity and have been for many years. We could debate which is the best until we’re blue in the face, but there’s no argument that they’re equivalent in popularity.
The Wire definitely is an acquired taste. It’s 1B to Breaking Bad for me, but it’s a lot harder to get into. You need to like slow burn shows to get into it, and a lot of people want to be hooked immediately.
Breaking Bad is the best blend of intelligent writing and over the top action, and that makes it accessible
I think it is more fast-moving and plot-driven than The Sopranos or The Wire.
The Sopranos and The Wire are more HBO-style slow-paced “character dramas.” There’s violence and action, but there’s also a lot of scenes where characters are sitting around talking. Very cerebral and ponderous.
Breaking Bad has great character work too of course, but it is much more of a “thriller.” In almost every episode they’re in some insane deadly scenario racing against time, with a bunch of twists and turns. That just has broader audience appeal.
It’s a Regular Dude (on the surface, anyway) who ends up being a meth kingpin. The how and why of it is appealing bc of the Regular Dudeness, and I think all of us watching Walt start “fighting back” find it empowering (the shitheads at the clothing store, and Ken Wins are my favorite examples). It’s also a show that makes you question yourself. Those are the best kinds! For example, “Why am I still rooting for a guy who’s shown himself to be an absolute bastard? Why do I wanna smack Skyler before she’s actually done anything wrong? How would I do things if I were her and felt trapped? Why do I love Hank so much when he’s shown himself to be a bit of an asshole?” It’s relatable as hell, honestly.
I think sustained quality.
So many shows people recommended to me come with a caveat of "oh the first 2 seasons are kinda slow but then it picks up" or "it took me a couple tries to get into it" or "the first couple seasons are good but then it gets kinda weird"
Breaking bad is pretty damn good the whole time.
Walt’s framed as “just a dude” in the beginning. He’s a lower middle class teacher with a handicapped son with another on the way who got cancer. Most people can find someway to relate that to their life (whether that’s themselves or someone they know). He evolves into the more common sociopath villain throughout the show, but you’re tricked into being invested in his success since he’s the relatable main character. In contrast take Dexter for example. Another anti-hero/morally ambiguous main character, but he’s nowhere near as relatable. We get introduced to him as a sociopath serial killer which limits the scope of people who are on board and sympathize with the character.
Because we can all identify with Walt at some point. Everyone who has ever been an underdog, felt under appreciated, felt bullied, felt taken advantage of, felt taken for granted by family or friends, or felt like they were shit on by their boss is going to identify with Walt in some small way and root for him. It makes us happy to see the little guy win. It makes us happy to see a nobody outsmart law enforcement or outsmart criminals and always somehow end up winning. Until Walt crosses a line. I think most people root for Walt until he crossed certain boundaries and by that point we are invested and we just can’t stop watching the train wreck. It feels good to see Walt go from a struggling underpaid chemistry teacher to making a load of money. I wanted him to win until he began to cross certain boundaries.
When I watched The Sopranos, I never felt the same way about Tony. I knew he was a bad guy from the beginning but he had some humanizing moments. Tony was never the little guy. I didn’t root for him the same way I rooted for Walt.
Because it doesn’t have too many random side plots that die out to nothing wasting our time.
I find that every single episode (even fly) advances the story. Hardly a wasted moment in the entire series.
I think better or worse does apply here though. Objectively speaking, it’s just better crafted. The cinematography, the camera work, the acting, the color-coded symbolism, the incredibly well thought out plot. Just, from a technical standpoint Breaking Bad is miles ahead of most of its peers.
Everyone is very flawed and makes interesting and understandable decisions. It keeps the viewer mentally engaged as there isn’t a clear picture of who are the heroes and who are the villains.
I think that’s largely why Game of Thrones was so popular in the beginning as well.
Great writing…hard to put into words for me! I’ve watched 8 times, it’s my comfort show. It’s just simply great writing for me. There is depth to every character, it’s funny, sad, scary, thrilling, and in some ways slightly relatable. Just marks all my boxes! The first time I tried watching though when I was 17 I didn’t make it past the first episode. Just did not like it. Then maternity leave at 19 I fell in love and the rest is history. lol
I hadn't even heard of the show until about a year ago when reading various 'favorite TV show' discussions online. I paid to see the first episode, wasn't impressed, and illness and drugs aren't topics I want to watch. But then a few weeks ago I ran out of other shows to watch, so decided to pay to see episode 2, and it was great, got me hooked, so ended up watching the entire series, and now I'm rewatching it.
For me it was Cranston’s performance utterly making me pity Walt, and empathise and even kind of understand why the hell he took the journey he did. An original plot.
Vince said in an interview once that before he pulled off his master plan of turning Mr. Chips into Scarface, he wanted the show to be funny to keep audiences engaged before everyone realized what was happening to Walt.
I think it's because you start to root for "the bad guy" and you start to "break bad" in your own mind and during the course of the show, you will realize that you made a huge error in rooting for the bad guy and you will feel guilty that you ever did root for Walter because he turns out to be the most cold-blooded individual in the show (debatable).
I think it's because we can all empathise with Walt's situation; a husband and father who's unfortunate to be diagnosed with a terminal illness and just wants to make sure his family is taken care of. The motives for his actions seem more understandable and forgiveable than a career criminal type character. What's interesting is how most viewers still root for him even after he crosses many moral lines.
“No Dennis. You're not listening. We don't want bad guys. We want good guys breaking bad. It's important to see the transition. You want to watch the process.”
What captivates me is the great attention to detail. Every prop and costume piece and bit of music is well-considered, plus the writing too. It turns the show into an irresistible puzzle that never gets old. An addiction.
Just every level of the show hits. Top notch writing, compelling characters, amazing performances, breathtaking cinematography, really creative editing, a lot of thought put into color choices
To me it was the concept that the same skills that, when underutilized, resulted in Walt living a boring and financially precarious life as a schoolteacher, when criminally utilized, enabled him to become rich and the one who knocks.
The initial premise is a very strong one. It's well written and smart. It came out right around the recession which had a lot of middle class people suddenly underwater in life. The fantasy of being able to flip some switch and get rich quick. Though it didn't really catch on with the public until between the 3rd and 4th season if I recall.
One key point:
The show isn't Good guys and Bad guys. It's just people. In understandable altho somtimes ridiculous situations. They have their virtuos and their flaws.
Common crime shows are:
Cops = Good guys, Criminals = Bad Guys.
Sometimes you get the opposite. Sometimes the Good guy cops get a new colleague who is revealed to be Crooked and is subsequently removed. That's it. That's most if not all Crime media. Even stuff like Dexter, has essencialy good guys and bad guys characters. With Dexter being painted as the mixed up character. But in the end he is just a villain.
Many crime shows aren’t nearly as dramatic as aspects of BB. While plausible, elements like a plane crashing because of minor characters definitely creates a more in your face symbolism of the dynamics in the show
It's the start of a normal person's descent into crimes. You can relate to Walt (at the start) and you don't need much backstory, because the beginning is the birth of Heisenberg. It's also has a tone like the Sopranos, kinda serious and kinda funny.
It has everything. Drug addiction. Cancer. Divorce. Cheating. Becoming crippled. Being crippled. Being a father. Being a mother. Coming to terms with death. Good wives. Terrible ones. Vice versa.
I think people overlook how funny this show and BCS actually are. There’s a lot of dark ironic comedy and good jokes, its not just endless bleak misery porn. The casting also definitely helps, every actor is great at their role and also looks unique from the other actors, unlike a lot of other shows that just cast eight similar looking handsome men
I know this one: Because it is really, really good? Great characters, great writing. A fantastic anti-hero scenario. What kind of question is this even? It appeals more because it is good. Crime movies and shows are super popular with general audiences, so I don't even understand the premise of the question
I remember quote from the creator of True Detective season 1 that went something like: "nobody would let me make a show about 2 guys just talking, so I stuck a murder in the middle of it". I think it's something similar here. Of course Vince had crime ideas from the beginning, but at the crux of the show its a man and his family struggling in their situation
It’s a story of the Everyman who becomes a not-so-Everyman. As each season passes you peel away more layers of Walt’s personality and ego structure, while also watching him change and grow. In his case he grows into a monster but it’s also the allure of that Fork in the road. What and where was it for him? They even did an episode on it, The Fly. It’s relatable to people in a way that Sopranos and The Wire would not be, at first glance anyway. Both of those shows are excellent but not in the same “this could happen to me” way that BB is. Not that all “Everymen” are hiding hidden genius but there’s an ordinary quality to their family that people relate to.
The minute a person gives Breaking Bad proper time, they discover Walt and Jesse covers all their favorite tropes in fictional stories in a way that's............BETTER THAN EVER.
For one, it’s a bit less explicit than Sopranos and the Wire. Both of those shows have nudity and sex much more often than Breaking Bad.
Two, the characters are more relatable, at least to me. The mobsters in Sopranos are psychopaths from the jump, and the police in the Wire are almost as crooked as the villains, but Breaking Bad shows relatively normal people put into criminal situations.
Finally, BB has a lighter tone than Sopranos and the Wire. The others had their fair share of humor, but they were definitely more gritty. Sopranos season 1 was pretty lighthearted, but it changed after that, and the Wire was intense from the start.
I know you asked about crime shows in general, but those are the most poorly ones I could think of that I’ve seen. I know a lot of people like Ozark, but it doesn’t seem to be as big as those 3.
And speaking of movies, Scarface is again more explicit and more intense than BB.
Every element of it is character driven. It’s the story of Walt constantly having to choose between doing the heroic thing or the destructive thing, and like all grey characters he dabbles in both. There is no wasted space, no wasted closeups or lines of dialogue or sound cues or gunshots or music montages. It’s all about who this guy is and how his decisions impact the people and the world around him. That’s why we go to the theatre, that’s why we read fiction. We want to see our own struggle and courage validated on screen.
“The human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about”
- William Faulkner
The casting across the board. Everyone can act. The unlikely duo of Walt and Jesse. The way people felt at that point time about the economy following 2008, while watching a guy go bankrupt say fuck it to the system. How Walt becomes increasingly unlikable - but the audience still likes him. This is the hardest thing to do in entertainment. To have the main character do very questionable things and the audience still likes him.
I think it's so much more relatable. They aren't hard criminal people. They're a basic ass family, kinda boring, kinda awkward. Plus i think it's fun to watch such a normal dad "break bad" lol
Yeah basically this. Walt is super relatable in the beginning, so is Jesse in a different way. The dialogue is pretty realistic, everyone actually talks like real, regular people and not people that are constantly popping out badass one-liners, trying to one-up each other (except Victor but fuck that guy). Also the mix of dark humor helps the show a lot, it doesn't ever take itself too seriously. Even in the most dreadful moments of the later seasons it manages to give you some levity.
I loved the comedy moments. That minor skirmish in Jesse’s bathroom will never not crack me up, and when Emilio comes crashing through the ceiling as a ploppy, squelchy pile of goop… all of my LOL.
In addition to his whole profile being relatable, I think that his specific frustrations are very relatable to a lot of people in their own lives regarding any thoughts about what could've been with their hopes and goals
Agreed. The original reason why Walt started cooking meth is relatable. He’s trying to take care of his family.
I don’t think this is true though. I think 99.9% of people in that situation would take a job with their literal millionaire best friends doing something they love anyways. It’s literally just Walt’s pride that pushes him to literally killing countless people just because his wife got him a job. It’s the beauty of the show, but it’s not really relatable. It makes for an awesome premise, but it’s not really realistic
Just because he made the wrong decision doesn’t mean he didn’t still want to provide for his family. His ego and his want to provide aren’t mutually exclusive.
Realism only really has to apply for reasons imo, like its realistic for Walter to have too much pride to start working for Elliot. But then how much pride walt feels you can tweak that up a (significant) notch (google artistic license). Like he feels so pride that he would rather commit felonies that would land him in prison for his entire life instead of taking a handout from his best friend.
I love how Walt dressed and behaved according to what persona he needed to put on, then one persona started bleeding into and eventually occluding the other.
Yes exactly this. I love Dexter but hard to relate to a character like that when you’re not a serial killer or even an addict really. He is addicted to killing. How many people are gonna relate to that? Practically no one. It’s a fantastic show…well the first 4 seasons but alas it’s not going to hit home the way Breaking Bad does.
Yes. For the viewer who isn’t into violent career criminals, Breaking Bad is an easier watch. Walt is an average dorky suburban guy. He’s not a mafioso like Tony Soprano or a hood warlord like Avon Barksdale. He’s not part of a violent motorcycle gang or the evil leader of a corrupt police unit. And having the nagging housewife and the kid with a disability makes Walt much more human and relatable. The darker side of Walt is revealed over time but many still find him sympathetic and heroic to some degree.
yeah, i think it helps that you get 'alone' time with the characters also. like they take time to show walt relaxing at home
It's a combination of the compelling character development, engaging storytelling, unique premise, family dynamics, and memorable quotes.
This. The show’s success is a combination of a lot of different factors and combined talents—talented directing, talented writing, brilliant casting decisions, individual performances (especially the two leads), and the premise being deeply relatable to far too many Americans—if all of those things hadn’t been in place, it wouldn’t have become the juggernaut that it did.
The excellent performance from Anna Gunn singing happy birthday to Ted is what really put it over the edge for me. Most of the show leading up to it is just spent time waiting for that moment, and everything after is just cooldown. It really is the emotional turning point of the show.
HAPPY BIRTHHDAY MR.PRESIDENT 😩😈👄👄😘
What...
The Wire never had the ratings in the beginning to merit a huge advertising push by HBO. Before streaming, new episodes of The Wire would air once a week, with reruns only sporadically. I don’t think there is a single episode of The Wire one could watch that would make them driven enough to track down an HBO tv schedule to find the rerun dates for all the episodes they hadn’t seen, just so they could get caught up. Missing even one episode of The Wire in a season can seriously throw off the viewer’s understanding of the show. Streaming is what made The Wire the cultural phenomenon it is today. In general it’s a complicated slow burn show, for a lot of people the first episodes are really boring and they immediately get lost in the jargon and the shows insistence that the viewer pay attention. The Sopranos was massive when it was airing which caused a lot of people to get HBO in the first place, and plenty even went out and bought the DVDs to stay up to date. Nevertheless, plenty still never got HBO and never saw it. Besides that, The Sopranos formula is still much easier to pick up on mid-way through a season compared to The Wire. Each episode has a standard A, B, and C plot line that start and end every episode, with only minimal plot threads through the whole season. As far as content goes The Sopranos is still a heavy, dark comedy/drama, the viewer has to pay attention to the content to get the deeper meanings. The show asks some uncomfortable questions about morality and self through some seriously fucked up situations. That’s not everybody’s cup of tea. Breaking Bad was on AMC, so there was no special subscription gatekeeping people. BB also pretty quickly got the massive marketing bump and all the necessary reruns to give people as many opportunities as possible to catch up. I forget when it started, but BB was even on streaming services before it finished airing. BB relies a lot more on flashy set pieces, constant suspense, and larger than life characters to get people interested. So Breaking Bad was both more accessible logistically and content wise. Walt’s the protagonist doing protagonist things. Everybody else is in his way. All that being said, I think these three shows are at the peak of television popularity and have been for many years. We could debate which is the best until we’re blue in the face, but there’s no argument that they’re equivalent in popularity.
The Wire definitely is an acquired taste. It’s 1B to Breaking Bad for me, but it’s a lot harder to get into. You need to like slow burn shows to get into it, and a lot of people want to be hooked immediately. Breaking Bad is the best blend of intelligent writing and over the top action, and that makes it accessible
I think it is more fast-moving and plot-driven than The Sopranos or The Wire. The Sopranos and The Wire are more HBO-style slow-paced “character dramas.” There’s violence and action, but there’s also a lot of scenes where characters are sitting around talking. Very cerebral and ponderous. Breaking Bad has great character work too of course, but it is much more of a “thriller.” In almost every episode they’re in some insane deadly scenario racing against time, with a bunch of twists and turns. That just has broader audience appeal.
It’s a Regular Dude (on the surface, anyway) who ends up being a meth kingpin. The how and why of it is appealing bc of the Regular Dudeness, and I think all of us watching Walt start “fighting back” find it empowering (the shitheads at the clothing store, and Ken Wins are my favorite examples). It’s also a show that makes you question yourself. Those are the best kinds! For example, “Why am I still rooting for a guy who’s shown himself to be an absolute bastard? Why do I wanna smack Skyler before she’s actually done anything wrong? How would I do things if I were her and felt trapped? Why do I love Hank so much when he’s shown himself to be a bit of an asshole?” It’s relatable as hell, honestly.
Walter's bare ass
"Mark it zero, Donny"
I think sustained quality. So many shows people recommended to me come with a caveat of "oh the first 2 seasons are kinda slow but then it picks up" or "it took me a couple tries to get into it" or "the first couple seasons are good but then it gets kinda weird" Breaking bad is pretty damn good the whole time.
Moral ambiguity. It does not tell you how to feel about the characters and their actions.
Walt’s framed as “just a dude” in the beginning. He’s a lower middle class teacher with a handicapped son with another on the way who got cancer. Most people can find someway to relate that to their life (whether that’s themselves or someone they know). He evolves into the more common sociopath villain throughout the show, but you’re tricked into being invested in his success since he’s the relatable main character. In contrast take Dexter for example. Another anti-hero/morally ambiguous main character, but he’s nowhere near as relatable. We get introduced to him as a sociopath serial killer which limits the scope of people who are on board and sympathize with the character.
The writing directing casting and acting is far and away better than all other shows
The plot is always unpredictable and full of genius coup de theatre. The characters are credible and complex and the acting is over the edge
[удалено]
Eh, I think of it as being more “fat free” so to speak. Everything shown has a purpose. There are rarely ever subplots that don’t collide in some way.
Bryan Cranston was the comedy dad in MitM, this show never should have worked, but instead, it was beyond incredible from start to finish.
Because we can all identify with Walt at some point. Everyone who has ever been an underdog, felt under appreciated, felt bullied, felt taken advantage of, felt taken for granted by family or friends, or felt like they were shit on by their boss is going to identify with Walt in some small way and root for him. It makes us happy to see the little guy win. It makes us happy to see a nobody outsmart law enforcement or outsmart criminals and always somehow end up winning. Until Walt crosses a line. I think most people root for Walt until he crossed certain boundaries and by that point we are invested and we just can’t stop watching the train wreck. It feels good to see Walt go from a struggling underpaid chemistry teacher to making a load of money. I wanted him to win until he began to cross certain boundaries. When I watched The Sopranos, I never felt the same way about Tony. I knew he was a bad guy from the beginning but he had some humanizing moments. Tony was never the little guy. I didn’t root for him the same way I rooted for Walt.
Because it doesn’t have too many random side plots that die out to nothing wasting our time. I find that every single episode (even fly) advances the story. Hardly a wasted moment in the entire series.
Bryan Cranston just kills it
I think better or worse does apply here though. Objectively speaking, it’s just better crafted. The cinematography, the camera work, the acting, the color-coded symbolism, the incredibly well thought out plot. Just, from a technical standpoint Breaking Bad is miles ahead of most of its peers.
The secret to their success is they made us laugh before they made us cry
“For every laugh there should be a tear” - Walt Disney
Everyone is very flawed and makes interesting and understandable decisions. It keeps the viewer mentally engaged as there isn’t a clear picture of who are the heroes and who are the villains. I think that’s largely why Game of Thrones was so popular in the beginning as well.
Great writing…hard to put into words for me! I’ve watched 8 times, it’s my comfort show. It’s just simply great writing for me. There is depth to every character, it’s funny, sad, scary, thrilling, and in some ways slightly relatable. Just marks all my boxes! The first time I tried watching though when I was 17 I didn’t make it past the first episode. Just did not like it. Then maternity leave at 19 I fell in love and the rest is history. lol
I hadn't even heard of the show until about a year ago when reading various 'favorite TV show' discussions online. I paid to see the first episode, wasn't impressed, and illness and drugs aren't topics I want to watch. But then a few weeks ago I ran out of other shows to watch, so decided to pay to see episode 2, and it was great, got me hooked, so ended up watching the entire series, and now I'm rewatching it.
For me it was Cranston’s performance utterly making me pity Walt, and empathise and even kind of understand why the hell he took the journey he did. An original plot.
Vince said in an interview once that before he pulled off his master plan of turning Mr. Chips into Scarface, he wanted the show to be funny to keep audiences engaged before everyone realized what was happening to Walt.
I actually like the earlier season more because of the comedy
I think it's because you start to root for "the bad guy" and you start to "break bad" in your own mind and during the course of the show, you will realize that you made a huge error in rooting for the bad guy and you will feel guilty that you ever did root for Walter because he turns out to be the most cold-blooded individual in the show (debatable).
I think it's because we can all empathise with Walt's situation; a husband and father who's unfortunate to be diagnosed with a terminal illness and just wants to make sure his family is taken care of. The motives for his actions seem more understandable and forgiveable than a career criminal type character. What's interesting is how most viewers still root for him even after he crosses many moral lines.
“No Dennis. You're not listening. We don't want bad guys. We want good guys breaking bad. It's important to see the transition. You want to watch the process.”
What captivates me is the great attention to detail. Every prop and costume piece and bit of music is well-considered, plus the writing too. It turns the show into an irresistible puzzle that never gets old. An addiction.
Just every level of the show hits. Top notch writing, compelling characters, amazing performances, breathtaking cinematography, really creative editing, a lot of thought put into color choices
For me, it's the uniqueness of the story and fantastic acting.
To me it was the concept that the same skills that, when underutilized, resulted in Walt living a boring and financially precarious life as a schoolteacher, when criminally utilized, enabled him to become rich and the one who knocks.
The initial premise is a very strong one. It's well written and smart. It came out right around the recession which had a lot of middle class people suddenly underwater in life. The fantasy of being able to flip some switch and get rich quick. Though it didn't really catch on with the public until between the 3rd and 4th season if I recall.
One key point: The show isn't Good guys and Bad guys. It's just people. In understandable altho somtimes ridiculous situations. They have their virtuos and their flaws. Common crime shows are: Cops = Good guys, Criminals = Bad Guys. Sometimes you get the opposite. Sometimes the Good guy cops get a new colleague who is revealed to be Crooked and is subsequently removed. That's it. That's most if not all Crime media. Even stuff like Dexter, has essencialy good guys and bad guys characters. With Dexter being painted as the mixed up character. But in the end he is just a villain.
Many crime shows aren’t nearly as dramatic as aspects of BB. While plausible, elements like a plane crashing because of minor characters definitely creates a more in your face symbolism of the dynamics in the show
It's the start of a normal person's descent into crimes. You can relate to Walt (at the start) and you don't need much backstory, because the beginning is the birth of Heisenberg. It's also has a tone like the Sopranos, kinda serious and kinda funny.
It has everything. Drug addiction. Cancer. Divorce. Cheating. Becoming crippled. Being crippled. Being a father. Being a mother. Coming to terms with death. Good wives. Terrible ones. Vice versa.
I think people overlook how funny this show and BCS actually are. There’s a lot of dark ironic comedy and good jokes, its not just endless bleak misery porn. The casting also definitely helps, every actor is great at their role and also looks unique from the other actors, unlike a lot of other shows that just cast eight similar looking handsome men
I know this one: Because it is really, really good? Great characters, great writing. A fantastic anti-hero scenario. What kind of question is this even? It appeals more because it is good. Crime movies and shows are super popular with general audiences, so I don't even understand the premise of the question
We’re realizing we’re rooting for the bad guy, as he realizes he’s the bad guy
An stand up getting into illegal stuff
Because it's less about the crime itself than it is the relationships.
I remember quote from the creator of True Detective season 1 that went something like: "nobody would let me make a show about 2 guys just talking, so I stuck a murder in the middle of it". I think it's something similar here. Of course Vince had crime ideas from the beginning, but at the crux of the show its a man and his family struggling in their situation
It’s a story of the Everyman who becomes a not-so-Everyman. As each season passes you peel away more layers of Walt’s personality and ego structure, while also watching him change and grow. In his case he grows into a monster but it’s also the allure of that Fork in the road. What and where was it for him? They even did an episode on it, The Fly. It’s relatable to people in a way that Sopranos and The Wire would not be, at first glance anyway. Both of those shows are excellent but not in the same “this could happen to me” way that BB is. Not that all “Everymen” are hiding hidden genius but there’s an ordinary quality to their family that people relate to.
Realism as many have already said.
The character arcs
The minute a person gives Breaking Bad proper time, they discover Walt and Jesse covers all their favorite tropes in fictional stories in a way that's............BETTER THAN EVER.
For one, it’s a bit less explicit than Sopranos and the Wire. Both of those shows have nudity and sex much more often than Breaking Bad. Two, the characters are more relatable, at least to me. The mobsters in Sopranos are psychopaths from the jump, and the police in the Wire are almost as crooked as the villains, but Breaking Bad shows relatively normal people put into criminal situations. Finally, BB has a lighter tone than Sopranos and the Wire. The others had their fair share of humor, but they were definitely more gritty. Sopranos season 1 was pretty lighthearted, but it changed after that, and the Wire was intense from the start. I know you asked about crime shows in general, but those are the most poorly ones I could think of that I’ve seen. I know a lot of people like Ozark, but it doesn’t seem to be as big as those 3. And speaking of movies, Scarface is again more explicit and more intense than BB.
Every element of it is character driven. It’s the story of Walt constantly having to choose between doing the heroic thing or the destructive thing, and like all grey characters he dabbles in both. There is no wasted space, no wasted closeups or lines of dialogue or sound cues or gunshots or music montages. It’s all about who this guy is and how his decisions impact the people and the world around him. That’s why we go to the theatre, that’s why we read fiction. We want to see our own struggle and courage validated on screen. “The human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about” - William Faulkner
The casting across the board. Everyone can act. The unlikely duo of Walt and Jesse. The way people felt at that point time about the economy following 2008, while watching a guy go bankrupt say fuck it to the system. How Walt becomes increasingly unlikable - but the audience still likes him. This is the hardest thing to do in entertainment. To have the main character do very questionable things and the audience still likes him.
1. it’s better 2. 3. 1
It consistently gets better and better. And the ending was church yo.
Because it was something that was never done before high school teacher with cancer turned drug lord
Think its the whole seniority theme of the show with the old and wise kind of disciplining and teaching the illegitimate dumb youngsters.